Ryan Merrill
Ryan Merrill played by Matt Lanter, is a character from Cherry Hill. Initially Ryan seems like a normal twenty-something guy; he loves to go out and have a drink and of course he loves the ladies. But beneath the surface lurks a darker personality, complete with a broken past. As he heads towards Cherry Hill, Ryan hopes that something or someone will find these answers, whilst we find out about his sinister past also and his shady dealings with gangs. History Childhood Ryan was born to his mother Vivienne Merrill and father Jeremy King, whom he hired as a prostitute while he was still married to Elena Santos and their relationship was hitting bumpy patches, in Atlanta, Georgia. Viv never told Jeremy about their lovechild, and Ryan grew up without a father his entire life. Vivienne was never there for Ryan, always on the "job" (prostituting - which he didn't know about at this time), and when she was there she was never much of a mother to him, often leaving Ryan to fend for himself. Viv was visited by many of Ryan's "uncles" over the years, whom he later realized were her prostitution clients. Teenage Years When Ryan was a teenager, he constantly got into fights and was expelled from school. Without any real stability or role model in his life, Ryan developed anger issues at the age of twelve. Ryan always used to wait for the day that his father would swoop in to save him. Young Adult Years Ryan's mother became ill and eventually succumed to her illness and died. Whilst cleaning out her stuff, Ryan stumbled upon diaries, his birth certificate and other things that lead to his discovery of his father's identity, and the revelation of his mother's prostitution. A month after his mother's death and pondering about this data, Ryan looked up his father and discovered he lived in the town of Cherry Hill, Ohio. He left for Cherry Hill in order to meet his father for the first time. About a day before his arrival in Cherry Hill, Ryan mugged Miranda King in an Ohio mall outside of town, unbeknownst that she is in fact his half-sister. Arrival in Cherry Hill (Season 4) Ryan arrives in Cherry Hill and rather bluntly reveals his true identity to his father, Jeremy. After spilling out the details of his past to Jeremy, who didn't believe him and thought this might have been a trick stirred up by Eve Warner, Ryan learns that he has a half-sister named Miranda. When Miranda arrives home alongside Jeremy's new wife, Monica and her daughter Naomi, tensions are raised about Ryan and who he really is due to the lack of paternity tests. Ryan shows Monica all the papers, though she doesn't feel this enough proof since he could have fabricated it. Jeremy sticks up for Ryan, saying he believes him and that he can stay with him and Monica in the guest room upstairs. Ryan goes upstairs, leading to an argument between Monica and Jeremy. Late at night, Ryan apologizes to Jeremy for stirring up so much controversy and he and Jeremy come to an agreement that tests will be taken the next day to prove Ryan's identity. As Ryan unpacks his things into the drawers of the guest room, he stumbles upon the grey fleece Miranda mentioned to police about in reference to her mugging. He looks at it guilty before storing it away. (The Other King) Memorable Quotes *''"I was thrown out of school for repeated fighting, taken to the doctors at 12... Anger issues apparently, lacking a real stability in my life. A role model. All my life, when mom treated me like dirt, when she’d go off and I’d have to find my own food... I used to look out the window and hope that one day my dad would care enough to come home. We haven’t bonded, sure, but neither of us know each other. That’s why I’m here." ''- ''Ryan'' (explaining to Jeremy why he's come to see him)